The Weeknd’s Master Plan

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Happy Monday, Future Party. Give it up for Snoop Dogg, who’s quickly becoming America’s sports ambassador. Team USA has named Snoop its first-ever Honorary Coach… which is essentially being America’s hype man during the 2026 Winter Olympics. It’s the same magic he brought to last year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, where his Peacock commentary boosted streaming numbers and flooded social feeds with viral moments. No wonder Team USA wanted to make it official.

The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) has struck a $1 billion deal with Lyric Capital Group to form a joint business venture around his catalog.

Why It Hits: Blockbuster catalog sales have been one of the biggest headlines in the music industry in recent years… but they’ve mostly been straightforward cash-outs — artists handing over their masters for life-changing sums. The Weeknd’s deal reimagines what’s possible with a catalog as an asset.

Behind The Deal: With a $1 billion payday, The Weeknd has seemingly scored the second-largest catalog deal ever (the biggest being Queen’s to Sony for $1.27 billion).

But the money is just the tip of the iceberg, per Variety.

Encore: Lyric — which also controls the catalogs of Tim McGraw and Ingrid Michaelson — said the agreement “sets a new standard for artist equity and control.” In fact, it might be the perfect middle ground between artists selling their masters outright for a ridiculous amount of money (like many legacy acts do nowadays) or keeping them under lock and key so that no one can ruin the integrity of the music (like Taylor Swift).

And because The Weeknd is at the height of his career — fresh off a record-breaking tour and boasting 120 million monthly Spotify listeners — he has the leverage to have his cake and eat it too.

The Future: Since Tesfaye plans to sunset The Weeknd moniker, he may be using the fresh capital to bankroll the next chapter of his music career. And with a billion-dollar runway, that chapter could be his most ambitious yet.

The explosion of visual content these days is almost unbelievable, and creative, marketing, and ad teams are #struggling to keep up.

The question is: How can you still win in the chaos?

Find out on January 14th as industry pioneers from Forrester Research and executives with experience from Disney, Comcast, and more reveal how media leaders can better manage and monetize their content in the AI world.

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Warner Bros.’ upcoming Supergirl is the first movie to ever take over all of TikTok, making its marketing unavoidable to most users.

The Big Picture: Hollywood really wants to woo Gen Z… and TikTok is the only place the generation reliably encounters marketing at a global scale. By turning director Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl — starring a Gen Z Supergirl — into the most visible thing on the app for an entire day, Warner Bros. ensured that buzz around the untested superhero sparked early, rather than leaving the future of James Gunn’s DC universe up to chance.

Behind The Scenes: On Saturday, Supergirl was everywhere.

Last Swipe: Hollywood studios know that empowering TikTok’s influential “MovieTok” community is crucial to getting a movie to go viral. But it’s safe to say that Warner Bros. didn’t leave the engagement up to chance — studios routinely tap MovieTok influencers to hype up movies with perfectly-timed videos that drive online discourse.

What’s surprising is how early this push is. Traditionally, studios save their biggest stunts for when tickets go on sale — but Supergirl is still seven months away. And with Universal unveiling an IMAX-exclusive extended trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week (the film hits theaters in July), Hollywood may be returning to the “start the hype early” playbook.

Coming Soon: Hijacking the TikTok logo may quickly become the most valuable real estate on the internet. We’re ready for the daily bidding wars.

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35% of you voted Somewhat aware in Friday’s poll: How aware are you of potential grid strain in your community linked to rising AI energy consumption?

“I’m constantly trying to bring this up with my peers in both my professional and personal life. We need transparency from major LLMs on the exact metrics of their energy use.”

“I live in Virginia, so I always hear about the super data highway and all the server farms. Everyone keeps saying our grid can’t handle it, but it seems fine so far.”

“I was aware of the huge energy consumption that AI requires, but I didn’t think about its impact on my local community.”

“I am now.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🏛️ The SEC is set to record every stock transaction on the blockchain.

🤑 The growth of Polymarket may be fueling insider trading.

🕚 Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for crashing the crypto market in 2022.

🎁 An AP-NORC poll found that over half of Americans are finding it harder than usual to afford typical holiday gifts.

🛒 Livestream shopping platform Whatnot will hit $1 billion in revenue this year.

💳 Visa’s president of global markets, Oliver Jenkyn, expects 2026 to be the year when most consumers adopt AI for shopping.

📱 TikTok is teaming up with DoubleVerify to supercharge ad metrics on the platform.

🤳 Kajabi is partnering with fintech company Parafin to offer financing for creator-led businesses.

🎥 Viral Nation is collabing with UK-based content studio Fremantle to produce premium creator-led shows.